Collapsible box.



J. H.- WILSON. GOLLAPSIBLE BOX. APPLIUATION I'ILED MAK. 16, 1908.

Patented Mar. 21,1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

J.- H. WILSON;

.' GOLLAPSIBLE BOX. APPLIOATIIOH Hum l- A3.16-.-1908.

Patented Marf21, 191 1.

' inure-Samara a W/MM cjizf ma JAMES H. WILSON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

COLLAPSIIBLE BOX.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 21, 1911.

Application filed March 16, 1908. Serial No. 421,484.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES H. WILSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful improvements in collapsible boxes in which the side members are preferably made of sheet metal and the end members of wood or strong light material.

The salient object of the invention is to provide a collapsible jacket or box adapted to inclose and protect a liquid can or the like, which is usually made of relatively weak material, from injury in shipping or handling.

Other objects of the invention are to provide a box, the sides and salient angles of which are reinforced in order to protect the box itself against injury and at the same time afford maximum strength and rigidity to the structure as a whole; to provide a relatively light and economical construction which can be packed" and shipped flat in a compact package, and which can be quickly assembled without necessitating the crimping or bending together of any of the various parts, and without the use of separate fastening devices; to provide a construction in which the side bodies are rigidly locked together when assembled by means of a novel and simple slip-joint connection; to provide a construct-ion in which the panel like side bodies may be shaped by a single operation of the forming die, and in which the blanks are so cut as to permit the formation of rabbetlike seats for the end members and one or more vertically strengthening ribs without necessitating any drawing of the metal; to provide a construction in which the various supporting and connecting parts are soarranged as to also act as reinforcing members and in general to provide an improved construction of the character referred to.

The invention consists in the matters hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims; and will be understood from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of the device as assembled. Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view taken through the side walls of the view shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the blank from which the side bodies are formed and showing the manner of cutting the upper and lower edges of the blank to permit the formation of a reinforcing rib. Fig. 4 is an inside side elevation of one of the side bodies formed from the blank shown in Fig. 3.

Referring to the drawings 11 designate the respective pairs of side members, and 22 the respective end members which when assembled together form the complete box. These side members are preferably made of sheet metal and are detachably united to each other by means of a novel slip-joint connection. To this end the side members 1 have their respective vertical edges bent outwardly at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the face of the side body, to form tongues 4. These tongues are adapted to have telescopic or slip-joint engagement with correspondingly inclined channel like or grooved members 5 formed by doubling and folding back the vertical edges of the members 1.

In order to prevent the tongues 4 from slipping laterally out of the channel shaped locking members 5, the latter are provided along the line of juncture with the main body with vertically extending shoulders 6 which abut against corresponding parts of the tongues 4:. The arrangement is such that these shoulders not only prevent the tongues from being forced laterally inwardly and out of the channel members, but they also increase the rigidity of the structure as a whole. The manner of forming these various interlocking parts will hereinafter be described. In this connec tion however it is to be noted that the interfolding of the tongues 4: with the channel members 5 not only serves to securely lock the side walls of the box together, but also form rigid rib like reinforcements which effectually protect the corners of the box against blows or other injuries. I

Describing now the manner of fitting the end members 2 to the side bodies, the latter are provided attheir respective upper and lower edges with rabbet like extensions 8, each rabbet comprising a horizontally ex tending shoulder 9 and a vertically disposed confining flange 10. As seen clearly in Fig. 1, the end members 2 rest upon the several shoulders 9 and are secured to the side bodies by means of small nails or brads 11 driven through the confining flanges 10. For a pur pose hereinafter described the rabbet like extensions 8 are vertically and horizontally divided so as to over-lap each other in their central portions as seen clearly in Fig. 1.

In order to reinforce the central portions of the side bodies, each is provided with a vertically disposed V-shaped rib 12 which is struck up from the main portion of the side body itself. To enable these ribs to be formed upon the side bodies in such manner creasing the width of the side body over all,

and this narrowing causes the margins thereof to over-lap at the cuts 6, which, except forsaid cuts, would have to buckle up.

The rabbet like seats 8 are formed by bending the upper and lower tongues 13 outwardly at right angles along the dotted lines 0(: and then bending them vertically upwardly along the dotted lines Zcl. The channel like looking members 5 are formed by first bending the side tongues 13 outwardly at right angles along the dotted lines 6 to form the shoulder 65, thence bending the tongues still farther outwardly along the dotted lines f at an angle of about 415 degrees and then folding the tongues back upon themselves along the dotted lines 9. The tongues l for the side bodies 1 are of course formed in a substantially (Sll'l'lllfll' manner. a i

From the foregoing it will be seen that the various locking and reinforcing parts of the side bodies may be readily made from a simple rectangular cut-blank.

In assembling the structure, the tongues 4t of the sidemembers 1 are first slipped into the respective channel like sockets 5 of the side bodies 1 and the end members seated in the respective rabbets 8. The latter may then be secured to the side bodies by means of small nails as heretofore referred to.

WVhile my device is particularly useful as a protectingjacket for liquid receptacles it is of course not necessarily confined to such use. Its capability of being collapsed may be disregarded and the several members .united to each other permanently in the first instance.

While I have herein showna preferred I embodiment of the invention, in its broader aspectsthe invention is not confined to the exact details of construction shown.

I claim as my invention:

1. Ina box, a sheet metal wall having a ing cuts, and said end margins being severed opposite the ends of said rib and having said severed portions over-lapping.

2. In a box, a sheet metal wall provided along two of its opposed margins with laterally oif set portions, a rib bent up from and extending across the intermediate portions of said wall and terminating inside the margins of the latter, the ends of said ribs being severed from the margins of the wall by transversely extending cuts, and abutting said off-set portions, the off-set marginal portions adjacent to the ends of said rib being severed by a vertically extending cut, and said severed portions over-lapped.

In a box, a sheet metal wall provided along one of its marginal edges with a laterally oif-set portion, a rib bent upfrom and extending across the said wall and terminating inside the off-set margin of the latter, the end of said rib adjacent said off-set ortion being severed from the main body of the wall by a transversely extending cut, the offset marginal portion'beingsevered by a' vertically extending cut adjacent the abutting end of said rib, and said severed portions over-lapped.

at. In a box, a sheet metalwall provided along one of its margins with a laterally off-set. portion, a rib bent up from and ex: tending acrossthe face of said wall, that end of said rib which is adjacent to said offset portion being severed from the main body of the wall by a transversely extending out, and said off-set marginal portion being likewise severed adjacent to the rib, and said severed portions over-lapped.

5. In a box, end members and paneled side walls, one or more rib like reinforcements formed onthe respective faces of said side walls, rabbet like seat-s upon the respective upper and'lower edges of said walls adapted to support and confine said end members, the ends of said ribs being severed from the bodyof the wall and abutting said rabbet like seats, and the marginal edges of said side walls being severed and overlVitnesses LOIS FORGE, F. L. BELKNAI.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Washington, D. G.

Commissioner of Patents, 

